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Introduction: Ritual of democracy: the emergence of an expansionist president --
Young Hickory: the making of a Jackson protégé --
Tennessee and Washington: the rise and fall of a presidential loyalist --
The 1844 election: searching for a means of political recovery --
Texas: dawn of a new era --
Polk vs. Clay: answering the question, "Who is James K. Polk?" --
The victor: preparing for the mantle of leadership --
Taking charge: America's zest for grand ambitions --
Annexation complete: diplomacy, intrigue, and the force of politics --
The United States and Oregon: "The people here are worn out by delay" --
The United States and Mexico: divergent new world cultures on a path to war --
Britain and Mexico: playing with prospects of a dual war --
The Twenty-ninth Congress: Polk takes command of the national agenda --
End of a treaty: diplomacy and politics at war with each other --
War: "Every consideration of duty and patriotism" --
Vagaries of war: "And may there be no recreant soul to fail or falter now" --
Presidential temperament: "I prefer to supervise the whole operations of the government" --
Wilmot's proviso: transformation of the war debate --
The war in the West: patriotism, duty, adventure, and glory --
The new face of war: "We are yet to have a long and wearisome struggle" --
The politics of rancor: constitutional usurpation vs. moral treason --
Dilatory Congress: the challenge of presidential leadership --
Veracruz and beyond: grappling with Mexico's military defiance --
Scott and Trist: a clash of policy and temperament --
Mexico City: the pivot of personality --
The specter of conquest: "Have we conquered peace? Have we obtained a treaty?" --
Treaty: from Trist to Polk to the Senate --
Peace: California, New Mexico, and the Union --
Final months: "Solemnly impressed with the... emptiness of worldly honors" --
Epilogue: Legacy: the price of presidential accomplishment.

Other Titles:

James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the conquest of the American continent